That’s right! If you haven’t already committed to band for the upcoming fall, you’re being unpatriotic. Here are ten reasons why you should sign up for marching band:

1. “15 minutes of fame”? Heck, you get 15 minutes times and times over when you perform for an entire football stadium every week.

2. You get to play cool, contemporary songs at a higher volume than normal (here’s looking at you, trumpets.)

3. Music lovers generally get along pretty well, and you know that most of your closest friends will be or already are people you met in band.

4. You didn’t really follow that plan to run five miles every day this summer, so you need a way to get tan and get some leg muscles before the school year starts.

5. Come on, everybody’s doing it. Don’t be a loser.

**And here’s some specifically for coming back to the Mighty Sound of Maryland this fall**

6. You REALLY should have won the March Off last year, so you have to come back for a re-do.

7. You want to do something that our director hasn’t seen in allll his 27 years.

8. If it stays this hot, you want to see if any of the tuba or drumline members pass out, and if they do, if the Band Van can be turned into a makeshift ambulance.

9. You’re really excited for your New Men to come, to the extent that you’ve already Facebook stalked your Band Buddy and will find out info about all the other new people as soon as you find out their names.

10. You miss your surrogate family–these band people you see for hours almost every day for months and months–and you can’t wait to see them again in August.